My heart may be weak, but at least its not a coward
by TribalWarDog
Summary: Doctors note, My patient Sora, has been having visual and auditory hallucinations. Someone named 'Roxas' has been telling him to do things against his will. It is my diagnosis that he may be suffering from schizophrenia. PhD Gainsborough
1. Chapter 1 impaled

Suddenly out of the darkness appeared Kairi. There was fear in her eyes as she yelled "Sora, help me!"

Xemnas started toward her with an evil grin and his ethereal blades. Immediately, Sora ran to cover her, getting to her right before Xemnas did. Acting on instinct Sora jumped in front of Kairi putting his arm out and shielding her with his back to Xemnas. He looked into her eyes but saw nothing. He realized it was only a shadow too late as pain took over his mind.

Riku saw the whole thing, Xemnas had seen Sora's weakness and took advantage of it. He tried to yell to warn Sora that 'Kairi' was only an illusion, she wasn't really there. But he was too late.

He watched as Xemnas's blade pierced Sora's back. His back arched as he gritted his teeth and cried out in pain. As the blade was pulled out of Sora, he fell forward crumpling onto the ground. Dropping his key blade, it clattered against the ground.

Riku ran towards him. Riku could already see the blood soaking through Sora's clothing. His breathing was labored, but on the positive side at least he was still breathing. Riku dodged past Xemnas's attacks he grabbed Sora's key blade. His duel wielding wasn't as strong as Sora but it would do.

Riku pointed Sora's keyblade at Xemnas and yelled, "My name is Riku! You have hurt my friend, prepare to die!"

"I did you a favor, he was only holding you back," Xemnas said with a smirk before firing an attack at him. Riku dodged that attack easily.

The battle went on in stalemate for a while until Xemnas turned his attention toward Sora. He was still lying where Xemnas left him, struggling to hold onto consciousness. With a look toward Sora then Riku that communicated Xemnas's whole plan, he glided to Sora. Looking down at Sora with disdain he leaned down and picked him up by his spiky hair. Sora groaned in pain as he was held upright.

"I think your friend could use a haircut, right about here." He said holding his blade over Sora's neck.

Riku readied his keyblades, "Leave him out of it. Let's fight just you and me, fair and square."

"Alright then, drop his keyblade," Xemnas ordered still holding Sora by his hair.

The sound of a Keyblade falling to the ground echoed against the walls of whatever dark and light space they were fighting in. The keyblade disappeared in a flash of light and teleported to Sora's hand where he tried in vain to hit Xemnas. Unfazed, Xemnas dropped Sora letting him fall face first back to the ground, where he lay for the remainder of the battle seemingly forgotten by the two fighting intensely.

There was death in their eyes as they fought, each wishing it on the other. The battle was close with no major development until Xemnas pinned Riku with both blades. Xemnas smiled evilly into Riku's face, feeling his blade start to shift under the weight. But, before Xemnas could strike, his foot struck Xemnas in the chest causing him to fall back. Without a moment of hesitation, he lifted his weird vampire angel bat winged keyblade and plunged it into Xemnas's chest. As he began to fade he looked at Riku.

"You have only delayed my ultimate plan, ha ha…" He used his last breath to say before he completely faded away leaving a lingering chuckle in the air.

As soon as Xemnas faded Riku yelled "Sora!" and ran to him. He looked bad but was still alive. "Don't worry buddy, you'll make it. We just have to get out of here."

"Light," Sora said pointing at something.

"No, no light, look at me you're going to make it," Riku said.

"There," Sora said again pointing. This time Riku looked.

Sighing in relief he said, "Oh, that light. Haha," He let out a tense laugh. "You ready to go, do you need help?" He didn't answer. "I'll take that as a yes." He picked him up like how he used to give him a piggy back rides at home on destiny island.

"Thanks," Sora said faintly his eyes still closed.

"You're heavier than I remember,"

They walked into the light.

They walked for a long time. Sora hardly moved, he hardly breathed. He was conscious but barely. His side hurt a lot but the pain was fading, giving way to darkness.

Suddenly the pain was gone and he was standing in a field. The moon was bright and he was on the dirt path between fields of tall grass. Everything looked too real. Looking down Sora realized he wasn't in the outfit the fairies had given him anymore, he was wearing his old outfit. The red one he took his first journey in. Strangely, it wasn't too small, it fit just right. Before him stood a man in the classic organization XIII clothing about the same height as him.

"I can make all your worries go away," He said with an outstretched hand.

Sora stepped forward to take his hand. NO! there was a loud call from somewhere. Sora looked around turning in a full circle. Directly behind him was Riku looking the way he did back on Destiny Island.

"There is going to be pain but, please come back with me, Sora. We need you," Riku said. He outstretched both his hands. His eyes pleaded with Sora to come with him.

Sora looked between the two. He faced Riku, "Okay, I'll come." He took Riku's offered hands and let him lead him down the long path.

Sora woke up. He was lying on his back in the sand. There was a dark ocean beyond the rocks with a big bright moon looming overhead. He opened his eyes for a second, he could see Riku sitting next to him out of the corner of his eyes. Sora's eyes were too tired and they closed again.

"To tell you the truth, Sora, I was always jealous of you." Riku said. He wasn't expecting a reply and continued. "I wished I could live life the way you do. Just following your heart."

Sora tried to answer but couldn't make a sound, he could only listen.

"At least there is one advantage to being me, something you could never imitate. Having you as a friend." Riku said.

That was the last Sora heard before he drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

Riku stared off into the distance with a worried look. What if they didn't make it to help in time? Sora had already lost a lot of blood and was looking paler than ever.

Riku looked over the vast expanse of water. He noticed a bottle bobbing along in the surface. He reached out to grab it and got the the bottom of his pants wet in the ocean, it was warm. It was a glass bottle with a message inside. He popped the cork and took the message out.

"It's for you," He said skimming the letter. It was really more of a poem than a letter. He started to read it aloud for Sora, even thought Riku knew he couldn't hear him.

"Thinking of you wherever you are. We pray for our sorrows to end, and hope that our hearts will blend. Now I will step forward to realize this wish and who knows, stating a new journey may not be that hard or maybe it has already begun. There are so many worlds but they share the same sky. One sky, one destiny. Kairi" His eyes were tearing up by the end.

Riku looked at Sora, he didn't appear to have moved or made any hint he was listening. Riku put the note in his pocket. If, no when, Sora was better he could give it to him.

Riku looked back over the vast expanse of water when a light suddenly beamed down from the heavens. Every fiber of him was pulled towards that light it felt warm and bright. He swore he could even smell warm chocolate chip cookies, the ones his mom packed for him to share at destiny island. He always ate them before anyone could ask to share them.

He stood up and began to walk into the water. He got to his ankles then looked back at Sora's limp form on the sand.

"I would never leave you," he said knowing Sora couldn't hear him. Riku picked him up and walked into the ocean toward the light.

When the light engulfed Riku it was like he was melting away. He felt the everything around him disappear including Sora. Suddenly he was flying, no wait falling. Everything was moving too fast. The cold salty sting of water jolted him back into the world.

After a moment Riku got his bearings back to reality, he was in the ocean and the water was cold. In the distance he could see Destiny Islands, his old home. There was even Kairi waving at him!

"Sora, we made it!" He yelled looking around. He saw Sora slowly sinking a stream of bubbles coming from his nose and clothing.

"NO!" Riku gasping a big breath before diving after him. Sora was sinking faster but Riku grabbed his arm before pulling him up to the surface. He made sure Sora's head was above the water and swam to Destiny island.

The closer he got to the shore, Kairi's expression changed from joy to fear. From behind her Goofy, Donald, and Mickey ran out to Riku. Riku gently handed Sora to Goofy before he collapsed on his knees in the sand. "I'm fine but he needs help." Riku said trying reassure them.

"We have got to get him to Radiant Garden, Merlin can heal him!" Micky spoke quickly. "We can take the gummy ship, I parked it on the other side of the island."

Donald took the keys and ran to go get the gummy ship started. Goofy quick walked behind being careful not to move Sora too much. He looked even worse now that he was wet, like a drowned rat. Everyone else ran to the tree house to gather their stuff for the journey back to Radiant Garden.

Inside the ship there were not enough seats. Luckily, in the back there was a long bench made three people. They placed Sora on top, laying down he took up the entire bench. Kairi came back from the tree house with some gauze and other first aid. They wrapped his side with the gauze to staunch the bleeding. Goofy, Donald and Micky took command of the flight deck flying as fast and stable as possible.

They arrived on the gummy pad in Radiant Garden in record time.

"We have an injured!" Riku yelled while disembarking like he was in a war zone. The gummy pad operator was prepared for this. He brought out a foldup gurney from the storage closet. Rolling it over to the ship where Riku waited holding Sora. They laid him on his back. Luckily, Merlin's place wasn't too far from the gummy pad. Micky ran ahead to tell Merlin and get the house ready.

"Don't worry we are almost there." Kairi said stroking Sora's matted hair.

When they arrived at Merlin's house he was already waiting for them. Inside he had cleared the table and laid a clean white linin on top.

"Lay him on top," Merlin instructed. "I need to clean the wound. Xemnas's ethereal blade are concentrated darkness. If left untreated it could cause some major issues."

"Major issues?" Riku asked tentatively.

"Well, It hasn't been studied in depth but it's hypothesized to disconnect in the heart. Which as we know can cause mental issues and multiple personality disorders." Merlin said looking through his cabinet for something. "The hard part about treating infected darkness in wounds is that it isn't up to me, it's up to him. I can help him fight it but in the end, it's up to him."

They laid Sora's unmoving form on top of the cloth. Merlin finding the bottle and bandages he was searching for moving back to Sora.

"Where was he hit by the darkness?"

"On his back here," Riku said pointing to the bloody gauze. "It goes all the way through to the belly."

They carefully unwrapped the Gauze revealing the wound. It was reddish brown with the drying blood. But after they cleaned away the blood they could see it was no ordinary wound. There was blackness pulsing around the ring of where he was stabbed.

Merlin took a couple drops from the bottle and dropped them on the wound both front and back. He then waved the wand around chanting foreign words, sparkles coming down off the end of his wand towards the wound. The sparkles fell into the wound congregating along the edge where the pulsing blackness was. It began to pull at the darkness trying to lift it up.

Once the sparkles were laid, Merlin put down his wand. "It's up to him now, he must fight the darkness for control."

* * *

Sora awoke in the darkness. He was floating gently in the warmth. But he was falling and he could see a stained-glass floor approaching underfoot.

He landed feeling the coolness of the glass. It was him, a mural of him. Somehow it felt familiar like he had been here before. He looked up from the ground to see someone else standing on the other side. They were wearing an all-black trench coat the hood was down to show a familiar face, but Sora just couldn't recall who he was, everything was hazy.

The figure walked toward him readying two keyblades. "Thought you got rid of me, huh?"

"Wait…" The recognition flashed in Sora's mind. He had fought him before in the World that Never Was. He had said something about being his 'other', whatever that meant. "Stop," Sora called out to him, "What did you mean 'other'?"

The figure stopped, "I am your other, your nobody."

"Oh, Ohhhhh yeah…" Sora said remembering that time he created a nobody by sacrificing himself for Kairi.

"I am Roxas, and I deserve to exist," He proclaimed running toward Sora with his Keyblades scraping the ground.

Roxas held nothing back. Sora dodge-rolled away in the nick of time. Sora materialized his own Keyblade and parried the next oncoming attack knocking Roxas' darker Keyblade across the floor. Then when he saw an opening he tackled Roxas to the ground, holding the Keyblade over his head.

"I already beat you once, I'll do it again. Why are you still fighting?" Sora asked.

"Because I want to live!" Roxas yelled pushing Sora off with his feet and striking him with the other keyblade.

They fought for a while, they were evenly matched in strength and was lull in the battle, both were panting and tired.

"Why can't we both exist? we could be friends!" Sora asked hopefully between breaths.

"Because life doesn't work that way, there has to be a winner and a loser." Roxas answered cynically. He readied his keyblade for another attack, before he ran towards Sora.

"Where would you go? There is nowhere left for you, the organization is done." Sora said jumping out of Roxas' way.

"I just want to eat ice cream with Axel and her again," Roxas said.

"Axel is dead and I don't know who 'her' is but she probably dead too," Sora yelled at him. He dashed forward and hit Roxas in the side with his keyblade.

Roxas fell to his hands and knees. "What?" Roxas said letting his keyblades disappear.

Sora looked down at him holding the keyblade ready to attack. Roxas looked up to meet his eyes. When Sora looked at him all he saw was himself, a scared young boy who just wants to live life, whatever that may mean.

Roxas flinched expecting an attack, but none came. Instead Sora stretched down his hand open palmed.

"Why?" Roxas asked not taking the hand.

Sora with his hand still outstretched answered, "Because I realize now you are a part of me."

Roxas looked up into Sora's eyes but he saw no malice. His instinct took over and his hand reached up to take Sora's but last minute realized what was going to happen to him.

If he took that had he would cease to exist on his own and would become nothing more than a part of Sora lost in a memory.

Roxas slapped Sora's hand away and pushed him away. "I am not just some piece of you! I am my own person! Get away from me and let me live!"

Sora was taken aback. "I know but I can help you exist."

"No, you can't! You're only trying to trick me!" Roxas said.

Sora tried to answer but was interrupted by Roxas' keyblade smacking him across the head.

He fell back from the hit but never felt the landing. The world faded into comforting blackness with only him.


	2. sweet dreams glass floor

Sweet dreams glass floor

"He's waking up!" a very loud and obnoxious voice yelled next to Sora's ear.

His eyes were too heavy to open. He just wanted to sleep why were they being so loud?

"Hey! Hey, open your eyes, I know you're not sleeping." That must be Riku, Sora thought. No one else would be that rude to him when he was trying to sleep.

Sora pried his eyes open just enough to make out Riku and someone next to him. They were a blurry, but it looked like … Kairi? The last thing he remembered was the dark beach, where had Kairi come from?

Before he could say Kairi rushed up to hug him. It was an awkward hug because he was lying down but he could feel the waves of relief from her. "Oh, I'm so glad you're ok!" She wiped away the tears as she stood up. "You were badly injured in the fight but you're safe now."

"Where…"

"Radiant Garden, Merlin's house," Riku said without hesitation.

Memories of the fight rushed back to Sora filling him with a sudden anxiety. "We defeated him, right?"

Riku nodded.

With that confirmation, Sora relaxed. As soon as he closed his eyes he fell into a deep sleep, one no one could wake him from.

There were no dreams that night.

Sora woke up with the sun. His side hurt more than yesterday. He felt like someone was watching but there didn't seem to be anyone else in the room. He looked around, there was not much in the room. Just his bed with the white sheets and small 2 chair table in the back and a nightstand next to him. It was so plain and clean it felt almost claustrophobic. The only thing on the table was a bell, it looked like those ones you see on desks at offices. It was so inviting he couldn't help but ring it.

Within a couple of minutes, Riku and Merlin came into the room with a tray of toast.

"Good morning," Merlin said cheerfully.

"Where's Kairi?" Sora asked first thing.

"No, 'good morning Riku, thank you for the breakfast'?" Riku teased.

"Thank you for breakfast, I really appreciate it," Sora said his stomach growling in agreement.

"How are you feeling," Merlin said. He took out a notepad and pencil but instead of writing, he put them on the desk where they began to note take by themselves.

"Well," Sora began, "My side hurts a bit and I can't quite remember what happened at the fight with Xemnas. Like, I remember it happened and brief moments, but I can't remember what exactly happened and how I got here." He clarified. As soon as he was done talking he stuffed an entire slice of toast into his mouth.

"Well, Xemnas skewered you right through the middle like a kabob," Riku said.

"Well, that explains why I feel like a piece of meat." Sora laughed then immediately clutched his side hissing in pain.

"Dr. Gainsbourg is coming soon to make sure everything is healing properly. Sorry to say but there is only so much my magic can do" Merlin said.

"Are Donald or goofy here?" Sora asked. He noticed they were missing in the momentary silence.

Riku answered as he walked to the small table and grabbed a bag from somewhere out of Sora's view. "They had to go report to the king, but they left this for you. Said they were really sad they couldn't be here when you woke up." He gave Sora the bag.

Sora took the bag eagerly and peaked inside. There were a box and an envelope. Even though the box was calling his name he took out the envelope first because that's the proper thing to do.

Sora opened the envelope and took out a crayon-drawn card of Sora, Goofy and Donald holding hands together. Namine's signature was in small print at the bottom of the picture. "Thanks for being our pal," Sora read aloud with a smile.

He placed the card on the nightstand and took out the box. "Cookies!" He exclaimed as soon as he saw the label on the box. "And their raspberry jam thumbprint cookies, my favorite!" He yelled and began to struggle with the box. Someone had thief-proofed it with a lot packing tape.

While struggling with the tape there was a knock on the open door and a head poked in. They had low brown hair with pink ribbons.

"Oh hi, Ms. Gainsborough," Sora waved as soon as he saw who she was.

"It's doctor Gainsborough now, I finally finished my degree!" She said, she was wearing professional looking doctor's white coat over her pink dress and carried a doctor bag with her and a clipboard.

She walked over to where he was lying in bed and took out some medical equipment things. There was that ear thermometer and blood pressure gauge thing, but it all looked so foreign to Sora, who had not been to the doctor since those required shots before middle school.

"All your vitals look good," She said after checking everything. "How are you feeling, any pain and aches?"

"My side hurts but other that I'm just really tired," Sora said. She wrote some on the clipboard.

"We just have to bandage it up and then your good. She said.

They fixed the gauze and Sora ate his cookies.

Aerith turned to her bag and pulled out a pill bottle. "Here is some painkiller but be warned it'll make you really tired." She put them on the table. "Other than that, just make sure to drink lots of liquids and get plenty of sleep. Your body needs time to heal," she said. After she made sure there was a cup of water on the table for Sora she left.

Merlin had to leave soon after Aerith. He was not specific but mentioned something about a meeting with some board of education for Radiant Garden.

Riku and Sora talked for a while until the sun started to set.

"Well I better get out of here, so you can sleep," Riku said and walked towards the door before stopping as if remembering something. "Oh yeah, you asked about Kairi, she went back to Destiny island for school. Said she'd be back on the weekend."

The sudden answer to the forgotten question from earlier made Sora remember home. "How are things back home?"

"From what I hear they seem fine," Riku answered noncommittally.

"Has my mom asked about me?" Sora asked.

There was an unconformable silence before Riku started to talk. "I haven't heard anything from her, bye," He said very quickly walking out the door, leaving no room for elaboration.

"Ok Then, good night," Sora said without a smile.

Sora took the medicine Aerith left. He closed his eyes and tried to sleep but there as a thump startled him up. There was a Silhouette by the door. He couldn't make out who it was but maybe Riku was coming back to tell him something.

"Riku is that you?" Sora asked tentatively.

"No."

Suddenly Sora's side was in pain, it felt like he was splitting apart from the inside.

The figure clutched his side as well. When he moved Sora could see blond hair that looked like Roxas.

The Roxas and the pain faded and before Sora could be scared the medicine kicked in. Sora was out like a light.

…

He opened his eyes. He was on the stained glass of himself again, he stood right on his sleeping face. In front of him stood Roxas. Neither of them had their keyblades out, but Roxas looked like he wanted to punch Sora in the face.

His angry face got closer as he walked towards Sora with his hands in a fist. Sora kept his fear in check and stayed right where he was, refusing to give in to the urge to take a step back.

"You need to wake up!" He yelled spitting into Sora's face, "We can't exist like this! We'll tear apart and die!" He emphasized the die.

Suddenly Roxas' hand flew out and decked him. Sora fell to the floor in shock.

"you couldn't defeat me and now we're splitting apart! One of us has to die!" He continued to yell at Sora who was scooching backward on his butt. Roxas summoned his keyblades and raised them above his head, ready to attack.

Roxas swung down with all his might, a loud clang shook his body from Sora blocking the attack with his own keyblade. He had pinned Sora down.

"No, I won't fight you! You are a part of me," Sora tried desperately to speak calmly but was failing, the desperation clear.

Sora kicked him off. He stood up quickly. They stood circling each other, Sora backing up, Roxas stepping forward. With every step Sora could feel the glass creaking and breaking like ice, it felt as if his very soul was splitting.

Roxas rushed forward dragging his two keyblades against the ground. When he reached Sora, he began to swing wildly.

Sora blocked the first couple and yelled, "If I die, you'll die too!"

"How would you know, I am my own person, I don't need you!" Roxas continued to swing wildly. Sora blocked them all but was getting weaker with each hit.

Before Sora could miss a block, he rolled behind Roxas.

"You are your own person, but right now you're just a soul and don't have a body to return to, you would die without me," Sora said.

"You just want to forget me!" Roxas swirled around, Keyblade hitting Sora. "Like everyone else," He said under his breath.

Sora was thrown back several feet, he landed on all four.

"I promise I would never," He was cut off by Roxas.

"Promises are only ever broken!" Roxas ran toward Sora but before he could make it, the sound of cracking ice reverberated through his ears and the floor gave way under his feet.

Suddenly he was hanging over infinite waves darkness but not falling, something was holding his arm. He looked up to see Sora.

Sora hauled Roxas back onto the stained glass, Roxas said nothing. Silence until he slapped Sora's hand away.

"I don't need your pity, I just want to live." He said, for once not yelling. His vulnerability showed as he lowered his keyblade.

"We can work together to live, and get you your own body back," Sora said. He didn't know how but he knew that he would try everything in his power to help his nobody.

Roxas just shook his head. "You are naïve."

"Just because it sounds too good to be true doesn't mean it's not true," Sora said in a low voice, almost as if he was trying to convince himself. All his life he had been told he was naïve and that he just didn't understand anything, even from his nobody. Maybe he was naïve, but how else was there to live?

"Maybe you are better than me, more optimistic and just a more likable guy, maybe you do deserve to exist more than me," Roxas said so quietly Sora almost did not hear.

"No, listen to me," Sora ran in front of Roxas, forcing him to look. "I am no better than you, we both deserve to exist."

Roxas stared for a moment before he turned away. "Yup, you are definitely better than me because I still want to kill you."

Sora was taken back, "You don't have to like me, we just need to join forces, so we can both live." He pleaded.

Roxas turned to look at Sora who outstretched his hand.

"Please?" Sora asked his hand out ready to be accepted.

Roxas stared. Then he reached his hands out and shoved Sora.

Sora fell backward feeling the glass shatter beneath him. He fell. Down into the darkness, where nothing mattered anymore, where nothing existed. He guessed this was his fate, to be destroyed but someone of his own creation. When suddenly something jerked him to a stop.

He was hanging over an empty abyss by his foot. He looked up he saw Roxas leaning over the edge holding onto his ankle.

"Thanks," was all Sora could say as he hung there.

Roxas tried to drag Sora back up causing Sora to cry out in pain as the glass scraped against the back of his calf all the way up to his knee. Sora used every ounce of his core strength to pull himself up the rest of the way.

They sat on the ground in unison for a moment to catch their breath.

"So…" Sora began.

"I don't like it," Roxas spoke. "but I have reconsidered and accept. I will join with you,"

"That's great!" Sora hugged Roxas with a smile. Roxas was not smiling, he leaned away and pushed him off.

"Only until I can return to my own body."

"Of course," Sora said a smile still on his face. "I bet it will come sooner than we think!"

"Well, I'm glad at least one of us is hopeful," Roxas said pessimistically.

They sat there in silence. The world seemed to grow less and less real.

…

Sora opened his eyes. He was back in the room again. It was early morning, but still dark out. He felt immensely better, his side no longer hurt, and his head felt so clearer than it had in a long time.

Well, he felt great until he moved. Then his whole body ached like all the fighting in his dream was real. The back of his calves felt scratched up, his fingers were sore, and his face felt tender like he might have bruises.

He looked over at the clock, 4 am. There was someone next to the bed he hadn't seen a second ago.

'Hello?" Sora's eyes strained to see who it was.

"It's me, Roxas." He said.

"Wow!" Sora said shocked. "You got your body back already?"

"Uhh, I don't think so," Roxas said looking at his hand. There was a transparency to Roxas like a ghost.

"weird."

"Yea."

They sat there in awkwardness not knowing what to say.

"So," Sora started, "Why did you change your mind back there? You know when you saved me after pushing me."

"Sorry about that," Roxas said sheepishly. "I don't know, I just like had this really weird feeling like I was falling. Like maybe we were connected as you said. So that's when I knew the only option was to join forces."

"I'm just glad everything worked out, and I haven't forgotten our promise." Sora leaned back against the pillow. "But, I'm really tired from all this fighting and I want to go to sleep."

Roxas stepped back. "Where should I go?"

"Well, where did you come from?"

"I…" His voice trailed off. "I don't know."

"I guess you can stay here," Sora scooched over on the mattress.

"Thanks," He lied down. They both fell asleep.

Sora woke up the sun was streaming through the window. The bad was empty, Roxas must have left to where ever he came from.

"Where'd that hallucination go?" Sora mused.

"Careful what you say about me."

Sora looked around it clearly sounded like Roxas, but he wasn't anywhere in the room.

Sora got out of bed and then promptly fell back onto the floor, it had been a couple of days since he last stood up. His calves hurt and a lot and looking at them it was easy to see why. They looked red and covered in scabs as if he scraped them on concrete a couple days ago.

Steeling himself, he finally got up and walked out of the small stuffy room.

Past the hallway, he made it to a kitchen. Riku and Merlin were sitting at a small table on one wall.

He stood there a moment leaning against the wall trying to listen in on their conversation before Merlin noticed him.

"Sora! Good morning, when did you get up?" He asked.

"Just a minute or two ago."

Riku turned around. "What happened to your face?"

"What do you mean?" Sora walked past them to the bathroom. He looked at himself in the mirror. His face had a large bruise, presumably from Roxas' keyblade meeting his face. It was a little sore but didn't hurt too bad unless it was touched.

"I…" Sora started to tell about his dream.

"Don't," Came Roxas voice from nowhere.

"I…am not sure," Sora said. He could bring himself to tell of his dream and the fight with Roxas, almost as if his tongue was held captive by someone else.

He kept staring at the unfamiliar face in the mirror, the reflection looked like an abuse victim. He walked away from the mirror back to the kitchen.

Merlin handed him a bag of ice.

"It doesn't hurt," Sora told them.

Merlin insisted with the ice, "You still need to reduce swelling."

Sora took it and put it on his face, hissing at the coldness.

"We should call Aerith, maybe she will know what's up," Riku said.

"Well," Sora said pulling up a chair at the table, "I'm feeling the best I have in a long time, even before the fight with Xemnas."

"While that is a good sign, we should still call Aerith," Merlin said as he sat at the table carrying a plate of toast and fruit.

They all sat around the table and ate a nice breakfast.

"I'm thinking of starting a keyblade school," Merlin said enthusiastically. "Are you ready to resume your studies?"

"Nooooooo!" They both cried out in unison.

* * *

So _, I have planned this story out (roughly) and I will write a ch 3 but I have multiple_ 8-page _papers to write for school. It might be a while until I get around to writing it._

 _As always, I encourage you to leave a comment! (It might help me write it faster)_

 _Thank you for reading :)_


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